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Paradoxical Relationships Between Cultural Norms of Particularism and Attitudes Toward Relational Favoritism: A Cultural Reflectivity Perspective

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Abstract

We examined how the cultural dimension of universalism–particularism influences managers’ attitudes toward relational favoritism (such as favoring friends or relatives in HR decisions). Paradoxically, we found in a survey study that Brazilian and Chinese managers perceived more negative consequences of relational favoritism than did American managers—even though the Brazilians and the Chinese perceived stronger particularistic cultural norms in their countries than Americans did in the United States. We attribute this pattern of results to “cultural reflexivity”—the ability of people from transforming economies to be culturally self-critical during a period of dramatic societal change. This pattern of results also emerged in a scenario study in which we asked these same Brazilian, Chinese, and American participants to assess managerial succession decisions made by a General Manager. We varied the scenarios so that the promoted manager was either a colleague with no pre-existing relation with the GM or a colleague who was a relative, a close friend, from the same town, or from the same school. Consistent with the results of the survey study, we found that perceived cultural norms of particularism were negatively related to perceptions of fairness. In other words, Brazilians and Chinese, even while living in more particularistic cultures, were more harsh in judging relational favoritism. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of these paradoxical relationships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, 1 Washington Park, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Chao C. Chen

  2. School of Business, Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave, Hamden, CT, 06518, USA

    Joseph P. Gaspar

  3. Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Ray Friedman

  4. College of Business Administration, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 S.W. 8th St, RB 310, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    William Newburry

  5. Faculty of Economics and Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Universitätsplatz 1 Piazza Università, I-39100, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

    Michael C. Nippa

  6. China–Europe International Business School, 699 Hongfeng Road, Pudong, Shanghai, 201206, People’s Republic of China

    Katherine Xin

  7. College of Business Administration & FGV-Ebape, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 S.W. 8th St, RB 339-B, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Ronaldo Parente

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Chen, C.C., Gaspar, J.P., Friedman, R. et al. Paradoxical Relationships Between Cultural Norms of Particularism and Attitudes Toward Relational Favoritism: A Cultural Reflectivity Perspective. J Bus Ethics 145, 63–79 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2843-6

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